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Western Illinois University Athletics

Jake Moore FP
4
Winner Western Illinois WIU 1-6
3
Evansville UE 4-4
Winner
Western Illinois WIU
1-6
4
Final
3
Evansville UE
4-4
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 R H E
Western Illinois WIU 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 4 8 2
Evansville UE 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 6 4

W: Pannell, Jordan (1-0) L: Herrmann (0-1)

4
Western Illinois WIU 1-7
6
Winner Evansville UE 5-4
Western Illinois WIU
1-7
4
Final
6
Evansville UE
5-4
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Western Illinois WIU 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 4 6 3
Evansville UE 0 2 0 1 3 0 X 6 10 0

W: Rodgers (2-0) L: Constand, Tom (0-3)

Game Recap: Baseball | | WIU Athletic Communications

Leathernecks Earn First Win in Doubleheader Split

Western took game one 4-3 in 13 innings but fell 6-4 in game two.

EMERSON, Ga. - Western Illinois baseball defeated Evansville 4-3 in 13 innings to earn its first win of the season and take game one of the doubleheader on Friday (Mar. 6) in Emerson, Ga. The Purple Aces took game two, 6-4, despite home runs from JJ Reimer and Jake Moore.

The doubleheader split moves WIU to 1-7 and Evansville to 5-4 on the season.

"Game one itself was unbelievable. I don't pay attention to that it was the first win," said head coach Ryan Brownlee. "I give our guys a ton of credit for staying with that. We got in at 7:30 this morning, ate, and went to the field. We took infield and outfield but didn't get to hit that much. It was really rushed and the guys handled it really well. Joe (Mortillaro) pitched well enough to win and our bullpen did a great job."

In game one sophomore catcher Adam McGinnis set the tone as he caught UE's first baserunner stealing in a throwdown to Colton Pogue at second base. The Leatherneck defense would hold the Purple Aces scoreless and the offense would take the lead in the top of the third.

Moore led the inning off with a single and advanced to second on a Brent Turner ground ball to the pitcher. A two-out single from Roman Visintine scored Moore and gave Western the lead 1-0.

Evansville scored once in the fourth and then again in the fifth to take the lead, but Western would not go away.

In the top of the seventh and what was suppose to be final inning, the Purple and Gold fought back to extend the game. Chris Tschida reached on a one-out single up the middle. Moore followed up with a base hit past the first baseman. Payton Jeffers stepped in to pinch hit for Kendall King and executed a squeeze-bunt play to score Tschida from first and eventually send the game into extra innings.

With the game extended to nine innings, the Leathernecks would make their move in the top of the ninth. It was Moore once again, reaching base with two outs on a hard hit ball to left field. Jeffers stepped to the plate and brought Moore home with a two-out RBI single to left field, sending Western into the bottom of the ninth with a chance to win.

However, the Purple Aces would score once with two outs and the game would continue, lasting all the way until the 13th inning. In the top half McGinnis would walk and Reimer would get beaned to put runners on first and second with two outs. A Tschida single to center would put Western ahead, and two strikeouts from Jordan Pannell in the bottom half would clinch the win.

Mortillaro allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits in five innings of work. J.T. Baksha struck out six Evansville batters in 3.1 innings of hitless relief. Nick Milligan struck out four in 2.2 innings of work, also without allowing a hit. Pannell (1-0) went the final two innings for the win. Western out-hit Evansville 8-6 and the Purple Aces doubled Western on the amount of errors committed (4-2).

Tschida recorded three hits while Visintine and Moore added two hits apiece.

After the 13-inning marathon, game two would turn into the seven inning contest, and it would not lack for excitement or offense.

Reimer started the scoring with his second homerun of the season to lead off the second inning. The Dubuque, Iowa native's solo shot gave Western a 1-0 lead that Evansville quickly took back with a two-run second inning of its own.

A RBI-sacrifice fly from Pogue would score King in the third and tie the game at two.

UE scored one in the fourth and three in the fifth to take a 6-2 lead until Moore smacked his first home run of the season with Mark Garton on base to make it 6-4. However, the Leathernecks would fail to score in the top of the seventh giving the Purple Aces their fifth win of the season.

Starter Tom Constand officially went the distance, allowing six runs (four earned) on 10 hits throwing all six innings. He walked one and struck out four.

Turner had two of Western's six hits in the contest and Moore drove in two runs.

"We have to do a better job of getting good pitches to hit," said coach Brownlee. "There were too many quick at-bats with soft contact. I am okay with swings early in the count but if we aren't getting good pitches in hitter's counts then we need to reassess what we are doing. We will be in every game we play, we just have to start developing some consistency."

The four-game set will wrap up Saturday with a second doubleheader set to start at 8 a.m. CT. The games are scheduled as a seven inning game to start with a nine inning game to follow and will be available on GoLeathernecks.com/watch. Fans can also follow the live stats at GoLeathernecks.com and on Twitter at @WIU_Baseball.
 
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